Rockford - Attorney General Lisa Madigan today awarded $2.7 million in settlement funds to 24 nonprofit health clinics throughout Illinois that will help purchase prescription drugs for low-income patients. The funds come from the settlements of consumer protection actions against Caremark Rx, LLC, and Medco Health Solutions, Inc. Attorney General Madigan made the announcement today in Rockford, where Crusader Central Clinic Association will receive $192,000 from the settlement funds to purchase discount generic drugs for uninsured patients.

"Low-income patients are increasingly vulnerable to rising health care costs," Madigan said. "These grants will help to ensure that some of Illinois' most vulnerable patients receive the prescription medications that they need."

Both settlements stipulate that the money must be distributed to nonprofits that benefit low-income, disabled or elderly consumers of prescription medications, promote lower drug costs for state residents and educate consumers about the cost differences among medications. Attorney General Madigan awarded the grants to the following free clinics, federally qualified health clinics and rural health clinics:

In the Caremark case, Madigan led a 28-state investigation of the company's alleged deceptive drug-switching practices that resulted in an April 2008 agreement to pay $38.5 million to the states, including $1.2 million to Illinois. Caremark, which is one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefits management (PBM) companies, processes prescription drug claims and negotiates pharmaceutical volume discounts for employer and government health plans. Medco is also a pharmacy benefits manager. Madigan's lawsuit against Medco similarly alleged that the PBM encouraged physicians to switch their patients' medications and made deceptive claims that the switch would result in significant consumer savings. The company agreed to pay $1.4 million to Illinois.